Chapter Ten

10 Years Later… or One day

Merlin sat in the woods watching Arthur sleep.

"How can I go back?" he asked, "I've had 10 years travelling around the universe with you. You gave him Retcon. He won't even remember why he's here, and he won't remember that I'm a warlock," he turned to the Doctor stood behind him.

"You have a choice," said The Doctor, "You always have a choice."

"Yes," said Merlin, "I can continue to travel with you and have amazing adventures, and know that thousands of years of legend and history are being wiped out. Or I can go to Arthur and be his fool again, for who knows how many years, until he's truly ready to know what I am. I'm 33, men in my village died younger than that, and were considered to have passed naturally. I'm not sure I can be the boy he needs anymore."

"I'm 1246," said The Doctor, "be the age you are, not how many years you've lived."

Merlin smiled like this was something he'd heard many times before.

"Will I ever see you again?" asked Merlin.

"I expect so," said The Doctor, "You still have the first time River meets you to look forward to."

"That's right, I do," said Merlin smiling a little, "That'll be fun."

"It will be," said The Doctor, "I might go there next."

"That's not fair," said Merlin scowling, "why do I always get stuck on the slow path?"

"Merlin, if life were meant to be fair, we'd all live in castles surrounded by magic," said The Doctor.

Merlin smiled and shook his head.

"I should go," he said, gesturing back to the clearing, "the sun will be up soon and I don't want Arthur to wake up alone."

"Wait," said The Doctor, "I want to give this to you." He pulled a small metal object from his pocket.

"What is it?" asked Merlin.

"It's a piece of my ship, it has a low level perception filter on it," Merlin looked confused, The Doctor shook his head, "when we first met, your personal perception filter was wearing thin, you've learned a lot of good masking tricks now, but I want you to take this just in case. Think of it as a talisman, as long as you have this on your person, no one will ever think you have magic, unless you stand up and say I'm a wizard and do some magic in front of them." He put the Talisman in Merlin's palm. "It will keep your secret until you're ready to share it."

Merlin held the talisman up to the light it was a circle with strange concentric patterns on one side, and a star carved into the other. "Thank you," said Merlin, and hugged The Doctor tightly fighting tears back, "I'll never forget you."

"And I will always remember," said The Doctor holding on just as tightly.

Arthur woke up with a very dry mouth and a very sore head. He was also for some reason, lying on the ground on some very comfortable blankets. He sat up slowly, and saw Merlin tending to a small campfire. They appeared to have been camping on the beach.

Merlin turned around and grinned when he saw Arthur was awake.

"Arthur!" he cried rushing to help him sit up comfortably, "how are you feeling?" he asked and offered Arthur the water skin, he drank deeply and squinted at Merlin.

"My head hurts," he said, "I have no idea where we are or what the hell happened."

"Camelot was being attacked," said Merlin, "Do you remember the golems?"

"Rock and earth creatures, they were being conjured," said Arthur.

"That's right," said Merlin, "Well we were fighting them in the lower town, and the knights finally seemed to be getting the upper hand. I spotted the sorcerer trying to make a break for it, I called it out to you, and we both grabbed horses and made after him."

"Okay," said Arthur nodding but frowning trying to piece this together in his mind, "then what happened?"

"Well things get kind of fuzzy for me after that," said Merlin, "I know we followed the sorcerer into this clearing, he didn't seem to be able to conjure anymore golem, but he was throwing some little energy balls around." He pointed to a scorch mark on a tree behind them. "We were both dodging his aim, and you wanted me to distract him so you could get close enough and take him down. The next thing I know there's this great big explosion, you were knocked into a tree, I hit the ground so hard I was seeing stars, and the sorcerer was gone. I don't know how long I was out for, but it's been about a day since I woke up." Merlin shrugged, and moved back to the fire. Arthur saw a metal glinting next to Merlin.

"What's that?" asked Arthur pointing. Merlin turned.

"Oh, it's your dagger, I found it on the floor near the trees I thought you might have dropped it in the fight," he picked it up and handed it to Arthur.

Arthur took the dagger and examined the blade. It was stained from tip to hilt, it was too dark to be blood but there was something… Arthur jumped dropping the knife. He suddenly had an image, of raising that blade and stabbing it through Merlin's chest.

"Arthur?" Merlin crouched in front of him, looking concerned.

"I'm fine," said Arthur, he picked up the dagger and sheaved it without looking at it.

"Okay," said Merlin though he still looked worried, he stayed in front of Arthur for another second and then moved off seeming almost disappointed. "Are you hungry?" he asked moving back to the fire. Without waiting for an answer, he pulled out a small pot of stew he'd cooked up and served it for both himself and Arthur.

"I haven't had this stuff in ages," said Merlin, slurping some of the stew.

"What are you blithering about Merlin?" asked Arthur digging into his own portion, "We have stew, nearly three times a week."

"Just seems like it's been a while," said Merlin smiling.

"You should get Gaius to look at you when we get back," said Arthur, "I think you hit your head when you fell."

"Why do you say that?" asked Merlin.

"Because you're acting even weirder than usual," said Arthur.

"Sorry?" said Merlin.

Just then they heard horses approaching, and three knights rode into the clearing.

"Arthur!" called Leon.

"Merlin!" called Gwaine.

"Are you two alright?" asked Lancelot.

"We're fine," said Arthur, "Just a bit knocked about."

"What happened to The Doctor and Lady River?" asked Gwaine.

"Who?" Arthur asked frowning.

"They decided to leave because of the battle," said Merlin standing up, "They didn't want to get involved with it."

"Who are you talking about?" asked Arthur.

"He hit his head yesterday, and has been unconscious until just a little while ago," said Merlin, "Gaius should take a look at him," he turned back to Arthur and put his hand out to him, "Let's go home."

Epilogue

Many, Many, Many years later….

Merlin sat on a large rock and surveyed the battlefield, his long grey hair and beard blowing in the wind. The bodies were growing cold, and the blood on his hands had long since dried. Excalibur stood in the mud among the corpses; its golden handle glinting in the waning light. Another young warrior was dead in the fight for good, and Merlin couldn't help, but yearn for the carefree days with Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. They were already steeped into myth and fairytale. The old man smiled at that if only they knew what a prat he'd been.

He heard the familiar noise, but didn't look around to see what it was. The creak of the door behind him was enough of a confirmation.

Merlin stood and turned slowly, to face the blue box and smiled in the light from the open door.

The End.

Author's notes: That's it folks! Thanks for hanging in here with me to the end, you few but faithful! I think I've had fun with the crossover, but I think I'll stick to one fandom at a time from now on! I'm off to finish my latest Merlin story Selective Blindness, I also have the sequel to No Mortal coming up to a boil in my muse's melting pot. I hope to see you all there, and I hope everyone has had a great holiday and new year. Later Cynic.